Scotland Yard was accused today of "a catalogue of failures" over the phone hacking investigation.

A highly critical report by the Commons home affairs select committee said it had found "no real will" in the Met to counter the "deliberate attempts" by News International to thwart investigations into the practice.

The MPs also criticised the "unprofessional and inappropriate" conduct of former assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, who was responsible for the original probe, and said they were "very concerned" that he had been put in charge of counter-terrorism.

They also accused him of "deliberate prevarication in order to mislead" Parliament in a further damning rebuke. The committee said Mr Hayman had adopted a "cavalier attitude" towards his contacts with News International figures who were under investigation by dining with them at the same time.

It said that even if the relationships were "entirely above board" they risked "seriously undermining confidence" in the impartiality of the police. It rebuked him for taking a job with News International two months after leaving the Met.

The committee also urged ministers to provide more funds for Operation Weeting, the police hacking probe, to ensure that the investigation could be completed more quickly.

Announcing the committee's findings today, chairman Keith Vaz said the Met had made a succession of mistakes and had failed to adopt a robust enough approach towards the News of the World.

He said: "There has been a catalogue of failures by the Metropolitan Police, and deliberate attempts by News International to thwart the various investigations. The new inquiry requires additional resources and if these are not forthcoming, it will take years to inform all the potential victims. The victims of hacking should have come first and I am shocked that this has not happened."

Today's report also accuses former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks of giving "carefully crafted responses" to questions about her knowledge of hacking and illegal payments to police and states that her comments do not amount to a "categorical denial" that she knew of such practices.